4. Enter the target IBUs and bittering hops

5. Late hop additions

Recommendation: No late hop additions.

number of late hop additions

6. Select the yeast type

Ale
Lager

← Click here when the data entry is done.

Results: *** Waiting for results ***

Discussion

The dunkles weissbier (dunkelweizen) style is similar to weissbier yet is a darker, richer flavored beer. The standard wheat malt percentage is 50 to 70% malted wheat. The remaining base malt should be Munich or a blend of Munich with Pilsner malt. Contentinal Munich or Pilsner malt would be the most authentic base malt choice. Extract brewers can enter 0% for the wheat malt value to calculate an entirely extract beer.

The traditional mash for this style was a decoction mash. This helped to develop the darker melanoidin character. A more modern approach would be to use Munich malt and specialty malts for the darker, malty character. For dark malts, Zainasheff (2010) recommends Caramunich and Carafa Special II. His dunkelweizen recipe is 63.5% wheat malt, 30.2% Durst Munich, 4.7% Briess Caramunich, and 1.6% Weyermann Carafa Special II. Avoid a roasted character, such as using chocolate malt or roasted barley. This can be a single stage mash at about 152F (67C) to 154F (68C) degrees.

Weissbier is lightly hopped with traditional German hops, such as Hallertau. American hops bred from Hallertau, such as Mt. Hood, are also acceptable. Keep the hop bitterness low. Late hop additions are also undesirable.

An essential component is a traditional weissbier yeast for achieving the spicy, phenolic character. These yeast strains produce more clove and less banana character when fermented cool, near 60 to 64F (16 to 18C).

Like weissbier, the addition of rice hulls to the mash or a slower runoff may be needed to prevent a stuck sparge. A second challenge is to avoid an excessive clove and banana character caused by high fermentation temperatures (over 70F).